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Topic: Best Time to Use Starter? (Read 1330 times)

What's the best "time" to use an active starter for a pizza dough recipe? I've got 2 of 'em currently going, 1 on a 12-hour feed and the other on a daily feed.

I want to use a 5% by total flour and do an overnight room temp bulk rise. Should I be aiming to use the Starter when it's nice and active, during expansion? Middle of feeding schedule? End of feeding schedule? I know the answer may vary but please chime in with what you're currently doing

In the Tartine Bread book, he talks about using a "mature" starter to create the leaven, to be left overnight. I assume this means using the starter right before it needs feeding again?

Now that I actually have a starter going and have observed by sight and smell at different time points, I'm really trying to get a handle on the stages of growth during the cycle. What's happening at the different stages, etc

Now that I actually have a starter going and have observed by sight and smell at different time points, I'm really trying to get a handle on the stages of growth during the cycle. What's happening at the different stages, etc

One thing to keep in mind with your experiments. Activation and fermentation temps can have a major effect on the characteristics of the starter. Leaving a starter out overnight at "room temp" may produce different results each time depending on how stable that temperature is.

One thing to keep in mind with your experiments. Activation and fermentation temps can have a major effect on the characteristics of the starter. Leaving a starter out overnight at "room temp" may produce different results each time depending on how stable that temperature is.

Thanks Bill and that's why I've started to shy away from questions that involve time because that will be temperature dependent as you've said. What the starter is "doing" and what it smells like are the indicators I'm looking for now, regardless of time

It's a slow curve but I like to learn and I think I'm starting to get a handle on the basics.